First impressions are very important. People do not take very long to judge a person through what the
y are wearing and what they look like. It is said that you only have 17 seconds to make a first impression and the first impression always counts. Say you were a market researcher and you had two people to meet, one was dressed in very smart clothing, hair brushed and his body language shows confidence. The second is dressed more casually and does not seem to care about anything. You would talk to the first person in a polite and organised manner because you have seen this person before talking to him and made up your mind on how he is as a person. But to the second person you will talk differently because you will make the first impression and understand that you will probably have to talk in a different manner then the first person. This may seem a bit stereotypical but this is how humans behave. This can be wrong, e.g. the person who was dressed smartly, may not actually be as smart as he looks and the person in the jeans may be able to give you more information for the research.
y are wearing and what they look like. It is said that you only have 17 seconds to make a first impression and the first impression always counts. Say you were a market researcher and you had two people to meet, one was dressed in very smart clothing, hair brushed and his body language shows confidence. The second is dressed more casually and does not seem to care about anything. You would talk to the first person in a polite and organised manner because you have seen this person before talking to him and made up your mind on how he is as a person. But to the second person you will talk differently because you will make the first impression and understand that you will probably have to talk in a different manner then the first person. This may seem a bit stereotypical but this is how humans behave. This can be wrong, e.g. the person who was dressed smartly, may not actually be as smart as he looks and the person in the jeans may be able to give you more information for the research. If you didnt understand the word description of first impressions, how about a video!
What must the people this person met have thought of him. He didnt make a very good impression talking about peoples wives the first time he met them did he?!!
Now...
The lecture...
The first thing in the lecture we had to do was to draw a star on a blank piece of paper. I do not have a picture but I will describe what was on the paper. I drew a small star on the middle of the page and then Ruth asked some questions and we had to write the answers anywhere on the paper we wanted. They were simple questions about us etc. the first question was, "how many brothers and sisters do you have?" Ruth said you can answer it however you like; I wrote two sisters and a brother. After all the questions were answered, Ruth collected the papers and gave them back out randomly. On the back of mine it said sporty, out-going, gender: male. This I thought were good words to describe me and the fact that they got this from just the simple answers I answered is amazing.
After this Ruth asked two students, who the whole class had never seen before by the way, to come into the class and not speak while the class had to judge them on their appearance and their body language. This did seem a bit unfair on them as we could have said things which would have offended them but we said them anyway!!! Ruth wrote in two sides what the class pointed out. I thought the first student was outgoing, foreign and loud. The second student, I thought was shy because of the way she was standing and I also thought she is foreign because of the distinguishing looks.
The majority of the class had got the right first impressions after the two students were rigorously questioned about all sorts of things from their names to where they do their shopping.
The lecture...
The first thing in the lecture we had to do was to draw a star on a blank piece of paper. I do not have a picture but I will describe what was on the paper. I drew a small star on the middle of the page and then Ruth asked some questions and we had to write the answers anywhere on the paper we wanted. They were simple questions about us etc. the first question was, "how many brothers and sisters do you have?" Ruth said you can answer it however you like; I wrote two sisters and a brother. After all the questions were answered, Ruth collected the papers and gave them back out randomly. On the back of mine it said sporty, out-going, gender: male. This I thought were good words to describe me and the fact that they got this from just the simple answers I answered is amazing.
After this Ruth asked two students, who the whole class had never seen before by the way, to come into the class and not speak while the class had to judge them on their appearance and their body language. This did seem a bit unfair on them as we could have said things which would have offended them but we said them anyway!!! Ruth wrote in two sides what the class pointed out. I thought the first student was outgoing, foreign and loud. The second student, I thought was shy because of the way she was standing and I also thought she is foreign because of the distinguishing looks.
The majority of the class had got the right first impressions after the two students were rigorously questioned about all sorts of things from their names to where they do their shopping.
This is amazing, the way people can judge just based on apearence and also get it right majority of the time!!
